Runes | A Degenerate Casino on the Bitcoin Blockchain Creative

04/25/24 • 56 min

Runes and Ordinals ‘Artist’ Creator, Casey Rodarmor has just invented two of the most dramatically impactful protocols in the blockchain industry's history and embraces cryptocurrency's speculative and gambling nature.

This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

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In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk,

are joined by Casey Rodarmor to discuss the launch of Runes, a protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain that allows users to create and trade meme coins. Casey expresses skepticism about the usability of layer two solutions and the potential for stablecoins on Bitcoin.

Takeaways |

Casey Rotemar believes that many projects in the crypto space make false claims about utility and are ultimately worthless.
Runes embraces the speculative and gambling nature of cryptocurrency, positioning itself as a degenerate casino.
Casey discusses the potential regulatory concerns and the ability of Bitcoin to withstand a nation-state attack. Bugs were found before the launch of Runes and Ordinals, including a divide-by-zero bug and issues with high-fee transactions and the mint logic.
Getting Bitcoin soft forks adopted can be challenging, but there are new BIP editors who are helping to merge proposals and improve the process.
Casey is skeptical about the usability of layer two solutions and believes that developing on top of Bitcoin without modifying the base layer is often the best approach.
There is potential for stablecoins on Bitcoin, but Casey is unsure if there is enough market demand for them.
The names of some of the runes created by the community can be offensive, but there are also creative and funny names emerging.
Casey is interested in developing a file-sharing protocol unrelated to blockchain or cryptocurrency, with a focus on improving the user experience.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

05:58 Runes: A Degenerate Casino on the Bitcoin Blockchain

13:58 Bitcoin's Strengths and Ethereum's Weaknesses

27:58 Bugs and Challenges Before the Launch

35:26 The Potential for Stablecoins on Bitcoin

41:59 Creative and Offensive Rune Names

49:57 Developing a User-Friendly File-Sharing Protocol

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The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

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This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

Follow the show here for more.

In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk,

Takeaways |

Casey Rotemar believes that many projects in the crypto space make false claims about utility and are ultimately worthless.
Runes embraces the speculative and gambling nature of cryptocurrency, positioning itself as a degenerate casino.
Casey discusses the potential regulatory concerns and the ability of Bitcoin to withstand a nation-state attack. Bugs were found before the launch of Runes and Ordinals, including a divide-by-zero bug and issues with high-fee transactions and the mint logic.
Getting Bitcoin soft forks adopted can be challenging, but there are new BIP editors who are helping to merge proposals and improve the process.
Casey is skeptical about the usability of layer two solutions and believes that developing on top of Bitcoin without modifying the base layer is often the best approach.
There is potential for stablecoins on Bitcoin, but Casey is unsure if there is enough market demand for them.
The names of some of the runes created by the community can be offensive, but there are also creative and funny names emerging.
Casey is interested in developing a file-sharing protocol unrelated to blockchain or cryptocurrency, with a focus on improving the user experience.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

05:58 Runes: A Degenerate Casino on the Bitcoin Blockchain

13:58 Bitcoin's Strengths and Ethereum's Weaknesses

27:58 Bugs and Challenges Before the Launch

35:26 The Potential for Stablecoins on Bitcoin

41:59 Creative and Offensive Rune Names

49:57 Developing a User-Friendly File-Sharing Protocol

Sign Up for THE PROTOCOL NEWSLETTER

From Our Sponsor:

Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org

The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

Rootstock | Bringing the Ethereum Virtual Machine to Bitcoin

Rootstock Chief Scientist, Sergio Demian Lerner, regards the upcoming Bitcoin halving is a moment of celebration for the community and highlights the importance of transaction fees for the sustainability of the network.

This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

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In this installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk, dive into

are joined by Sergio Demian Lerner, Chief Scientist at Rootstock, to discuss his research on the Patoshi pattern and the early mining of Bitcoin. He explains how he identified that Satoshi Nakamoto had mined approximately 1.1 million Bitcoins and had never spent them, which built trust in the system. Sergio also shares his insights on the upcoming Bitcoin halving and the importance of transaction fees for the sustainability of the network.

Takeaways

Sergio Demian Lerner identified the Patoshi pattern, which revealed that Satoshi Nakamoto had mined approximately 1.1 million Bitcoins and had never spent them, building trust in the system.
The upcoming Bitcoin halving is a moment of celebration for the community and highlights the importance of transaction fees for the sustainability of the network.
Rootstock aims to bring the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to Bitcoin and focuses on financial inclusion and the use of Bitcoin collateralized stablecoins.
The cultures of Ethereum and Bitcoin differ in terms of complexity, centralization, and fragmentation, with Ethereum being more open and welcoming to developers.
The introduction of BitBM and the development of bridges on Bitcoin may lead to changes in the Bitcoin ecosystem, such as the addition of new opcodes for more efficient operations.

Chapters

00:00 Uncovering the Patoshi Pattern

13:51 Rootstock: Bringing the EVM to Bitcoin

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EPISODE LINKS |

Polygon Acquires Ethereum Scaling Startup Mir for $400M

Polygon Plans 'AggLayer,' in Bid to Synthesize Modular, Monolithic Blockchains

Polygon Releases 'Type 1 Prover,' Claiming Milestone Set by Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin

Polygon, StarkWare Tout New 'Circle STARKs' as Breakthrough for Zero-Knowledge Proofs

From Our Sponsor:

Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org

The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Next Episode

High Stakes | Intense Competition Among Layer Two Solutions

The battle for supremacy among layer two solutions in crypto has projects vying to showcase their tech. Despite criticism, airdrops and token launches by Ren and Eigenlayer have faced user disappointment.

This episode is sponsored by the Stellar Community Fund

Follow the show here for more.

This installment of "The Protocol," hosts Brad Keoun, the founding editor of The Protocol Newsletter, and tech journalists Sam Kessler and Margaux Nijkerk; they cover the story of Celo choosing Optimism as their layer two solutions, the vulnerabilities found on Optimism and the launch of tokens by Ren and Eigenlayer.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Overview

01:43 Celo Chooses Optimism as Layer Two Solution

07:20 Vulnerabilities on Optimism and Layer Two Wars

16:31 Token Launches by Ren and Eigenlayer

28:14 Intersubjective Forking and Regulatory Uncertainties

34:46 The Crypto Industry as a Complex Game

37:04 Conclusion

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EPISODE LINKS |

Celo Chooses Optimism, Concluding Bake-Off Among Layer 2s

The Protocol: EigenLayer's 'Intersubjective Forking' Is Objectively Not Done

What Is Restaking? What Is Liquid Restaking? What Is EigenLayer?

EigenLayer, After Touching Off Restaking Frenzy, Plans Own EIGEN token

Avail Data Availability Integrated by Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, StarkWare, ZkSync

From Our Sponsor:

Apply for Funding at communityfund.stellar.org

The Protocol has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “Take Me Back” by Strength To Last.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.